The present disclosure relates to social networks and electronic communication. In particular, the present disclosure relates to using delegation as a mechanism to manage business activity by taking on a shared identity.
Social networks have grown in popularity and usage in recent years. In fact, so many users have begun to use social networks, that many businesses and organizations have likewise created an organizational identity on such social networks to create a business presence. This organizational identity is similar to the identity (node) of a particular individual that has been created on a social network. The business or organization through its organizational identity engages in any of these social network activities, for example, e-mailing, blogging, micro-blogging, indicating acknowledgment which can be a positive or negative endorsement, indicating interest, indicating friends, etc.
However, businesses and organizations are not individuals (human beings). Therefore businesses and organizations require other individuals to act on their behalf and engage in the social networking activities. The organizational identity has historically been treated the same or as an individual identity, and provides a fixed company login and password to access the features and functionality of the social network corresponding to the organizational identity. Thus, a business or organization is often required to provide that password and login to multiple employees that are managing the organizational identity. This is problematic as employees often change positions, or even leave the business organization, thereby changing their responsibility for managing the organization's presence on the social network.
Businesses and organizations have also historically been provided with a different interface for managing their presence on the social network. For example, some social networks often provide a separate business page that allows users to interact with the social network and manage their business presence. Oftentimes the separate business page does not have all the functionality available through the standard user interface provided for individuals. Besides reduced functionality, this approach also has the shortcoming of making it more difficult for users to interact on behalf of the business organization in a social network because of the different user interface.